Club Book

Chris Pavone burst onto the mystery thriller scene in 2012 with The Expats , a chart-topping spy novel centered around an unassuming American housewife who stumbles upon evidence of a major conspiracy – while safeguarding a secret of her own. His debut earned Pavone both Edgar and Anthony awards. The international bestseller is currently in print in over twenty languages, and being adapted for a m...

Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong-American memoirist and teacher, and a leading voice for one of Minnesota’s fastest growing ethnic groups. Her moving 2008 memoir, The Latehomecomer , chronicles the story of her own family – and hundreds like them – who made the harrowing trek from their native Laos, to refugee camps in Thailand, and ultimately to the United States in the wake of the Vietnam War. The Late...

Internationally bestselling science fiction and fantasy author Nnedi Okorafor is one of that genre’s most unique contemporary voices. Her spell-binding work is inspired by her rich West African heritage. Titles of particular note include the post-apocalyptic Who Fears Death (2010), winner of the prestigious World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and its 2016 prequel The Book of Phoenix , which was sh...

Minneapolis native R.T. Rybak served as mayor of Minnesota’s largest city from 2002 to 2014, before stepping down from the post at the end of a third term. His post-mayoral career is proving to be an eventful one. Rybak currently serves as CEO of the Minneapolis Foundation, one of the region’s most prominent philanthropies, and is active at the helm of Generation Next, a public–private coalition a...

Internationally renowned naturalist, author, documentarian and media commentator Sy Montgomery is sometimes described as “part Indiana Jones, part Emily Dickinson” ( Boston Globe ). A distinguished career in animal behavior research has taken Montgomery to far-flung locations including Costa Rica, the Congo, Mongolia’s deserts, and many points in between. Her impressive written corpus spans ten bo...

Candice Millard is a New York Times bestselling historian widely acclaimed for producing “crisp, concise and revealing history” ( The Washington Post) . She began her distinguished career as a writer and editor for National Geographic , before turning her attention to book-length projects. Millard’s 2005 debut, The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey , explored a little-known chap...

American Book Award winner Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a master of many different genres. Her hit novels to date include The Mistress of Spices (1997), Sister of My Heart (1999), One Amazing Thing (2010), and Oleander Girl (2013). Studios have optioned many of Divakaruni’s works for films or television, including a big screen adaptation of The Mistress of Spices in 2005. She is also an accomplis...

Architect-turned-author Charlotte Rogan made waves on the literary scene with the publication of The Lifeboat , a tense and haunting survival story set at sea at the outset of World War I. Stranded on an overcrowded lifeboat with few provisions and little chance of immediate rescue, survivors of the mysterious sinking of an ocean liner grapple with life-and-death decisions. Rogan’s debut hit numer...

Lucie Amundsen is a self-described ‘reluctant farmer’ and co-owner, with her husband Jason, of Locally Laid Egg Company, a ranch enterprise in Duluth that supplies pasture-raised eggs to markets in Minnesota, Iowa, and Indiana. Amundsen holds an MFA from Hamline University and is a past contributor to the Star Tribune and Reader’s Digest Association. When this plucky couple – with no real agricult...

Mystery favorite Cara Black is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling writer behind the popular Aimée Leduc private investigator series. Set in and around Paris, Leduc’s adventures span fifteen installments to date. Black boasts an international following, with more than 400,000 books in print in eight different languages. She is also a two-time finalist for the Anthony Award, a high honor i...

Forrest Pritchard is a seventh-generation farmer and New York Times bestselling memoirist. He is one of the nation’s foremost experts on and champions of organic and sustainable farming practices. Pritchard’s literary debut, Gaining Ground , chronicles his personal struggle to save his family farm in Virginia. His 2015 follow up, Growing Tomorrow: A Farm-to-Table Journey , showcases the remarkable...

Mystery phenom J.A. Jance is the mind behind not one, but three blockbuster series. Her corpus, stretching back to 1985, includes an impressive 60 novels to date. Jance’s popular and compelling protagonists include retired Seattle police detective J. P. Beaumont, Arizona sheriff Joanna Brady, and news anchor-turned-sleuth Ali Reynolds. Among other high honors, two books in the Beaumont series, Wit...

Book club favorite Jacquelyn Mitchard is the author of ten acclaimed novels to date. Her 1996 debut, The Deep End of the Ocean , propelled the author to superstar status after Oprah Winfrey chose it as the inaugural selection for her wildly popular book club. Hollywood adapted the story into a movie of the same name, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Whoopi Goldberg. Mitchard’s newest book, Two If by...

Lyndsay Faye is one of the most unique voices writing today in the realms of historical and speculative fiction. Her 2009 debut, Dust and Shadow , takes place in Victorian-era England, and pits the inimitable Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper. Faye followed up that success with the three-book Timothy Wilde series, set in New York City over the 1840s – during the early days of the NYPD and th...

Writers David Mura and Sun Yung Shin will come together for an evening of conversation about the Asian-American experience in Minnesota. David Mura is a multitalented poet, novelist, memoirist, and playwright. His four full-length poetry collections to date include After We Lost Our Way , winner of the 1989 National Poetry Contest, and The Colors of Desire , winner of the Carl Sandburg Literary Aw...

Novelist Christina Baker Kline is best known by many as the author behind Orphan Train , a runaway hit that reached #1 on The New York Times bestseller list – and continues to chart well on trade paperback bestseller lists nearly two years after its debut. Depression-era Minnesota factors prominently into this true-to-life tale, which centers around a welfare program responsible for relocating tho...

Karen Abbott is a New York Times bestselling historian and a pioneer of what USA Today calls “sizzle history.” Her hits to date include Sin in the Second City (2008) and American Rose (2012). Publishers Weekly praises Abbott’s latest title, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy , as a “gripping… remarkable story of passion, strength, and resilience.” It brings to light the stories and contributions of fou...

Lori Sturdevant is a veteran editorial writer and columnist for the Star Tribune and one of the most recognizable bylines in Twin Cities print journalism. Her forte is state government and politics, a beat she has covered for more than 35 years. Sturdevant has also penned, co-written, or edited nine books on important Minnesota topics. These include A Man’s Reach: The Autobiography of Elmer L. And...

Novelist and memoirist, Brando Skyhorse, made a name for himself in 2011 with the publication of The Madonnas of Echo Park . This fiction debut – set in one of Los Angeles’ most racially diverse neighborhoods, where Skyhorse himself grew up – garnered accolades for its contributions to the important, ongoing dialogue on what it means to be Mexican in America. It won the 2011 PEN/Hemingway Award, a...

Authors Alexs Pate and Tish Jones come together for an evening of conversation about their writing and the African American experience in Minnesota. Pate is a professor of writing, playwright, and award-winning novelist. His notable work includes his debut, Losing Absalom , which won a Minnesota Book Award in 1994, and Armistad , a novelization of the screenplay for the 1997 Steven Spielberg histo...

Minnesota boasts more than its share of homegrown thriller novelists, and Chuck Logan ranks near the top of that list for many. He is best known for his six-book Phil Broker series, featuring a larger-than-life military veteran and ex- undercover agent. After the Rain , the fifth in that series, earned Logan a Shamus Award nomination for Best P.I. Hardcover Novel in 2005. Hollywood adapted its fol...

Ron Rash is one of the most popular authors writing today in the areas of historical and regional fiction. Rash’s “powerful, yet gently beautiful” novels draw heavily from his own experiences in his native Appalachia ( USA Today ). These include Serena , a finalist for the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award, and The Cove , winner of the 2012 Langum Prize for Historical Fiction. The former saw a big screen ad...

Journalist Marja Mills made a name for herself in the literature world last year with the publication of her much-anticipated The Mockingbird Next Door . Considered the definitive biography on Harper Lee – the reclusive author behind one of the best-loved novels of the last century – The Mockingbird Next Door became an instant national bestseller. Mills traveled to Lee’s native Monroeville, Alabam...

Detective fiction favorite, Sara Paretsky, is the author of more than twenty books, including the New York Times bestselling V.I. Warshawski series. Warshawski, an intrepid private investigator from Chicago, “always makes the top of the list when people talk about female operatives” in literature, according to The New York Times . In recognition of her achievements to date, Mystery Writers of Amer...

Mitchell Zuckoff is a veteran journalist and prolific historian. A two-decade career as a roving correspondent for The Boston Globe won him numerous accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination. As an author, his recent New York Times bestsellers include two larger-than-life WWII aviation thrillers: Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission...